More Than Words Are Needed

IBM was the main driver of the program, and the result was a business case with numbers like these:

155 million people in the U.S. need accessibility technologies of some type.

Disabled Americans represent $175 billion in discretionary income.

Big numbers. But if the opportunity is so enormous, why are so few corporations pursuing it?

The reason is that this market, by its nature, does not speak for itself. Most of those who speak for the disabled are advocates, who speak from a non-profit or government viewpoint. They mainly see this area as a cost, not as an opportunity.

When your body is locked in a nursing home, or you are locked in your own home by blindness or paralysis, it's very hard to turn that buying power into a market force which must be respected.

Until the people within this market gain more control of their money, and demand entry to the mainstream, this won't change.

So I have the most optimism here regarding the aging of America, especially the baby boomers (of which I am one). We are accustomed to whining, to demanding action and holding out vast sums of money to those who meet our needs.

Right now this market is seen as being focused on the opportunities of retirement. The silliest example may be those Ameriprise
(American Express) "Dreambook" ads implying we all want to run wineries
or B&Bs. That's what everyone thinks, going into retirement.

But then there's the old Robert Klein
joke, complaining about Florida. The road
of retirement is, unfortunately, filled with various infirmities and
morbidities. No one gets out of this world alive, and the last steps are bound to be painful.

It's when the front end of the baby boom realizes this, and demands
the tools to at least access the Web comfortably and keep being heard,
that action will really start. Unfortunately.